388 DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. [Apr. 21, 



species, is confined to the coasts and islands of the North Pacific, 

 descending south, on the American side, as far as Lower CaUfornia. 

 Tlie ears are very small and very low down, but little above the line 

 of the mouth. The whiskers are few, short, and stout. The muzzle 

 is naked at the end, and has a vertical groove traversing part of it. 

 The fore feet are wonderfully small, with very short digits, short, 

 curved claws, and naked pahns. The hind feet are very long, with 

 very long digits webbed to their tips, and with hairy soles, and short, 

 stout, curved claws. The tail is stout. 



There are 14 dorsal, 6 lumbar, 4 sacral, and 21 caudal vertebrae. 



As to the proportions of the skeleton, the cervical region is at its 

 minimum length (compared with the spine) amongst Arctoids save 

 Cercoleptes, also the length of the palate is at its miiiiinum, as is the 

 breadth of the skull behind the orbits. The length of the first 

 upper molar, compared with that of the skull, is at its maximum 

 amongst all Carnivores, as is also its breadth and to a yet greater 

 degree. The length of the pelvic limb over that of the pectoral 

 limb is greatly iu excess of that found in any other Carnivore. 



The cervical vertebrae have moderate hypapophyses. The thorax 

 is very capacious. The caudal region is short and without chevron 

 bones. The acromion is short. The humerus has a condyloid 

 canal. The femur is very short. The digits of the feet are 

 very unlike those of any other Arctoid. Those of the manus are 

 indeed short and nearly equal in length ; but those of the pes are 

 very elongated, and are flattened like those of Seals. The fifth is the 

 longest. The length of the metatarsals of the individual measured, 

 and the other dimensions of which are given in the tables annexed, 

 are as follows : — Of the fir^t, 8" 8'" ; of the second, 1 1" 5'" ; of the 

 thud, 13" 2'" ; of the fourth, 14" 4"' ; and of the fifth, 15". The 

 fifth is the stoutest as well as the longest. 



As to the cranial characters, in addition to those given bv Professor 

 Flower' it may be noted as follows: — The maxilla forms a very large 

 tloor to the orbit, and there are venous canals, inside the es- 

 occipitals, which open inside the condyles. There are, occasionally, 

 defects of ossification in the exoccipitals. The occiput incHnes 

 forwards and upwards. The basis crauii is very much broadened out 

 and flattened. The postorbital processes are less marked than in Lutra 

 and Aonyx. The nasal aperture is extremely large, and there is 

 hardly any rliiui-ncephalic depression, the wide, large cribriform 

 plate lying flush with the general inner v\ all of the skull. The ano-le 

 of the mandible is much as in Meles. The subangular margin is 

 everted, but not so much so as in Lutra. 



Dental formula = I. |, C. j, P. | M. \. 



It difl^ers from every other Carnivore except the extinct Eusmilus ^ 



Sea Otter, Peun. Syst. Quad. (1771) p. 241 ; Cook's Third Voyage (1784) 



ii. p. 295, pi. 43. 

 Saricorienne, Buffon, Supp. vi. p. 287. 

 > P. Z. S. 1869, p. 11. 2 ggg > jijp q.^(. . p 43g^ gg_ jyQ 



